The Philanthropist Tickets
“Intellectually stimulating, touchingly sympathetic and gloriously, gloriously funny” - Sunday TimesPerformance dates
3 April to 22 July 2017
Run time Just over 2 hours including interval. Monday to Saturday 7.30pm, Thursday and Saturday 2.30pm
Includes interval
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Out in the ‘real world’ the Prime Minister and his cabinet have been assassinated and England’s most treasured writers are being murdered one by one! Back in the cosy bubble of university life, a bachelor don anguishes over sex, marriage, anagrams, and the meaning of life. Did someone suggest academics were ‘out of touch’?
CHRISTOPHER HAMPTON’S most celebrated hit play returns to the West End. SIMON CALLOW’s new production stars: MATT BERRY (The IT Crowd, Toast of London), SIMON BIRD (The Inbetweeners, Friday Night Dinner), LILY COLE (Ab Fab The Movie), CHARLOTTE RITCHIE (Call the Midwife ) and TOM ROSENTHAL (Friday Night Dinner).
★★★★ 'Simon Bird and Lily Cole are a treat in this intellectually witty, emotionally acute tragi-comedy' Daily Telegraph
'Simon Bird is hilarious as he leads a stellar comic cast' Radio Times
'Biting satire' The Week
'A smart college comedy - I love the play' The Guardian
'Christopher Hampton’s wickedly funny tale of the foibles of life in a university town' Time Out
Recent Reviews
Excellent acting, very clever, well observed play
Sorry but this play just didn't do it for me or my partner so we left at e interval. The story line was muddled and several of the actors mumbled their way through their parts. There were moments of humour but also unnecessary vulgarity and long speeches of boring monologue. With Simon Callow directing I had high hopes but was very disappointed.
I did not enjoy this production at all. Slow, unfunny and tiresom.
Great cast and fast-paced - go and see it!
A very funny, clever and entertaining show. The script works as well today as it did nearly 50 years ago. Most of the acting was excellent though I was not completely convinced by Lily Cole's portrayal of Araminta. Particularly enjoyed the performances by Simon Bird and Charlotte Ritchie. Some of the moving around in the dinner party scene seemed a bit artificial. The set is lovely. Overall a very enjoyable evening despite the nightmare of fighting through Formula 1 crowds to reach the theatre. I was lucky enough to arrive before the start-time but I appreciated the theatre delaying curtain-up by nearly 15 minutes to allow frantic late-comers to get in.
This is a very entertaining play with excellent performances. For me the stand out performance was Tom Rosenthal as the witty and articulate Donald. Simon Bird played basically the same character as he did in Inbetweeners - no bad thing but I am sure he is capable of much more. The play had some uneven pacing but overall was a very funny, at times excruciating, tour de force. Highly recommended!
Not only was the production painfully flat, the seats were the most uncomfortable we have ever experienced. Have never commented before, in 50 years of attending theatre. We left at the interval, disappointed and sore. Thanks for asking!
Comfortable seats, good sets and excellent acting, but we found the play itself vacuous and the humour pretty feeble.
I liked it. The acting was great, set was lovely, it was very engaging. Play itself a bit strange. Light hearted, sometimes a bit dark. Thought the actors did what they could with it. I'd have given the actors 5 stars.
Great evening. First visit to Westminster studios: lovely venue and production was beautifully staged. Good performances in a funny and thought-provoking piece. Still felt very relevant 40 years on.
I booked this play as a special occasion to celebrate my husband's big birthday and had my two twenty something boys with me. I can only say that it was a disappointment. it simply did not work as a comedy even satirically and I found it boring . I could not recommend it as entertaining and to be honest it was a waste of money
Brilliant show, very funny and very entertaining
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